LIHEAP: Worthy program must clean up its act

The Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program was designed as a lifeline so poor families wouldn’t have to choose between heat and food in winter. Unfortunately, in Pennsylvania, LIHEAP has instead become the poster child for welfare fraud and abuse.

Money went to dead people and a prisoner. Scammers were able to use incorrect Social Security numbers and tamper with their income to meet eligibility levels, according to the latest report by Auditor General Jack Wagner. It basically ticks every box of the stereotypes of a welfare program gone wild.

The problem is these red flags aren’t new. Many of the same issues were uncovered in the auditor general’s 2007 report on LIHEAP.

Not only were the problems not resolved, the Department of Public Welfare added to the travesty by spending $800,000 on outside contractors who didn’t help. The worst offense was a no-bid $203,500 contract that went to Philadelphia law firm Hangley Aronchick Segal & Pudlin that resulted in lots of billings to the state but little gain. The firm didn’t even conduct the required on-site visits to homes to monitor whether the aid recipients were legitimate.

The auditor general’s latest report looks at abuses in the winter of 2009-10. These occurred under Gov. Ed Rendell’s tenure. Since Gov. Tom Corbett took office, there has been much talk by Republican lawmakers about attacking fraud in DPW. This latest LIHEAP audit is more motivation to put the talk into practice.

Wagner is once again recommending concrete changes to how DPW oversees and administers LIHEAP. Most are pretty basic. He recommends that no-bid contracts be eliminated, for instance, and applicants’ data be double-checked with that of other applicants as well as lists of incarcerated and deceased.

The real shame is that there are truly poor families in this state who have legitimate need for LIHEAP funds.

“There would be people who literally freeze to death in their homes without this program,” Wagner said. “I want to see us fix the program.”

The focus should not be on ending LIHEAP, but on rooting out those who don’t belong. This should not be a case of the proverbial throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

The LIHEAP program totals about $260 million a year and serves around 434,000 families. The auditor general’s team calculated a rough error rate of 8 percent. While DPW’s focus has to be on reducing that rate, it’s important to remember that close to 400,000 families did legitimately need and use the funds received.

The auditor general’s message is especially timely because President Obama proposed that federal LIHEAP dollars be cut in half. There will likely be less money soon for the program, all the more reason to ensure the most needy are the only ones receiving it.

The neediest Pennsylvanians can’t wait another four years for the LIHEAP program to be cleaned up. As another fall and winter approach, the new DPW secretary must address the abuses.